March 17, 2012: The SPRING MEETING of the NC Gourd Society will be held at the Durham County Library.

The spring meeting of the North Carolina Gourd Society will be 2:00-5:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 17, 2012 in the third floor auditorium of the Durham Main Library located at 300 N. Roxboro St. in Durham, NC. (There is elevator access and free parking.)

For driving directions click: DIRECTIONS

February 05, 2012: Festival page has been updated!

ALSO: A -bunch- of suppliers of dried gourds have been added to the "Contacts" page of this website. Sources both inside and outside of North Carolina. Check 'em out!

12/21/11: A printable Growing Tips document has been added to the Growing & Harvesting page of this website. Click on the "Growing" button above to get to that page.

The North Carolina Gourd Society (formerly the Gourd Village Garden Club) first met in Cary in 1937. The oldest chapter of the American Gourd Society, it is among the oldest garden clubs in North Carolina. Early festivals were held in the school cannery, a dry cleaners and a furniture store. Over the years festivals have featured dolls, a gourmet gourd buffet, hard-working, practical gourds, Mother Goose gourds and many others.

Gourds are grown as garden novelties for their strange and wonderful shapes, as craft material and musical instruments, as well as practical, working implements. The smallest can be the size of a marble and the largest a 200-pound armful. A household necessity since the beginning of civilization, gourds still are used today. Many growers raise birdhouse gourds as homes for purple martins, colorful ornamentals decorate our Thanksgiving tables, and luffa sponges are popular bath time buddies. What U.S. gourd growers call gourds are three different plants. All are cousins of squash, some closer kin than others.

Membership in the North Carolina Gourd Society is $12 and includes four issues of the society's quarterly newsletter Gourd News. The newsletter contains dates and locations for the quarterly meetings of the North Carolina Gourd Society officers and general membership in central North Carolina, along with information on the Western Carolina Gourd Patch, and is filled out with interesting and timely articles for gourd crafters and growers alike.

Click HERE to see our current by-laws. The North Carolina Gourd Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation dedicated to the culture and heritage of gourds in America.

In the Triangle area you can contact Shelly Nowik, or Mary Ann Rood (919) 286-0494, for their occasional gourd workshop offerings. They also sometimes do gourd crafting/painting demonstrations at the regular NC gourd society meetings.

The Far Western North Carolina Gourd Patch meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at the Shooting Creek Fire Dept. Community Room.
Shooting Creek Fire Dept. Community Room,   -   18 Eagle Fork Rd.   -   Hayesville, NC 28904,

This location is east of Hayesville, N.C. off of Hwy64. Members come from over a hundred miles in all directions from east Tennessee, Georgia and western NC. The patch is open to the public and only requires each participant to donate $2 per meeting to cover the cost of renting the space. Every month a technique or project is presented for a minimal cost, generally $5-10. Notices of the meeting project are sent out over e-mail at the beginning of each month so that supplies can be gathered up and gourds prepared. All are welcome and can email Fonda Hadad or call her at (321)298-2796 for more information and directions.

There is interest in starting a "Beach Patch," so if you live along the North Carolina coast, please contact Rosalyn Moody .

There are two Triad Patches that cover the Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Highpoint areas. The basics and intermediate work are taught every other month (starting in January) on the third Tuesday of that month at the Flower and Garden Building of the Dixie Classic Fair Grounds in Winston-Salem. The even months feature an advanced workshop in Judi's Summerfield studio. Contact Judi Fleming for more information.

The 71st Annual North Carolina Gourd Festival will be September 08-09, 2012 in the Holshouser Building on the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, North Carolina. We will update the "Festival" page of this website as details are confirmed. Please keep checking!

For your entertainment we have added many more pictures of past NC gourd festivals to this website. Click here to see them.

In 1965, Marvin and Mary Johnson established their gourd museum in a small building on their farm in the Kennebec community, just north of Angier, NC. Marvin grew over 200 types of gourds on the farm and, between them, he and Mary traded gourds and seeds with people in countries all around the world. The museum let them share their treasures with the public and admission was always free.

After more than 40 years, the farm was sold. In 2006 the town of Angier, North Carolina stepped forward to provide a new home for The Marvin and Mary Johnson Gourd Museum and, in the Johnsons' tradition, admission is still free to the public.

To learn more, click Gourd Museum. To go directly to Angier's gourd museum page, click www.angier.org/gourd-museum

Annual dues are currently $12 and include four newsletters.

For information, write:

North Carolina Gourd Society
2713 Peachtree Street
Raleigh, NC 27608

or call (919) 696-0744 or email Treasurer, Paul Buescher

What are the benefits of joining??? Free seeds, a newsletter four times a year, special speakers at our quarterly meetings, finding friends with similar gourdly interests, crafting, growing, curing tips and a wonderful gourd festival each year!